Mailing or shipping package for watches



1&0 Model.)

E. A. MARSH. MAILING 0R SHIPPING PAGKAGE FOR WATCHES.

NO. 555,322. Patented Feb. 25, 1896. FTEil- IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'III ANDREW EGRAHAM, Pncrm-u'mo WASHINGFDN. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT OEFIcE.

EDIVARD A. MARSH, OF NEIVTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAILING OR SHIPPING PACKAGE FOR WATCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 555,322, dated. February 25, 1896.

Application filed May 25, 1895. Serial No- 550,713. (No model.)

individual watches or watch movements either by express or by mail. The necessarily-delicate mechanism of the watch renders it specially liable to injury by reason of sudden shocks or blows. To avoid such injury of the most delicate and vital portions of the movem ent, the pivots of the balance arbor or stafi, some special and complicated forms of construction have been devised, but have been found expensive, complicated, and unsatisfactory.

The object of my invention is to obviate the need of any special form of watch construction, and at the same time to provide a safeguard from injuries by the almost inevitable shocks and concussions incident to transmission, especially in the regular mailsac-ks.

My invention consists, as a whole, in a mailing or shipping package for watches, c011- sisting of an outer box or case with a separable cover, a resilient support within said box or case carrying at its free end a suitable watch-holder, such as a box or an adjustable clamp, said holder being free from contact with the outer box or case, the arrangement being such that the watch-holder is free to move or yield to a limited extent in any direction in the box, and is, therefore, protected against injurious shocks or jars. By the term watch, as used throughout this specification, I mean either a complete watch, including the movement and its case, or a watch-movement without a case; and by the term watch-holder I mean either a device adapted to embrace and hold a watchcase containing a movement or a box adapted to receive a watch-movement having no case.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a any considerable extent.

part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of one form of foot, resilient support, and watchholder embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of the form shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a sectional view of the inclosing case or box with the watch-holder, foot, and resilient support shown in Figs. 1 and 2 inclosed therein. Fig. 4 represents a perspective view of a modified form of foot and resilient support. Fig. 5 represents a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, showing the holder, foot, and support constructed as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 represents a perspective view showing an adjustable holder adapted to receive a watchcase of any ordinary size. Fig. 7 represents a top view of the construction shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 represents a section on line 8 8 of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 represents a view similar to Fig. 8, showing a modification in the method of attachment to the resilient support.

The same letters and figures of reference indicate the same parts in all the views.

In the drawings, a and to represent the parts or members of an inclosing case or box, which may be made of any suitable material and of any suitable form and size, the box being intended to contain the watch-holder and its supporting-foot and resilient shank hereinafter described without contact between the watch-holder and the walls of the box. I prefer to make the box of rectangular shape, and it may be conveniently made of some strong and tough fibrous material, such as leather-board, and may have its angles protected by metallic reinforcingpieces, the object being to provide an external inclosing box or case which will be suitably light, strong, and durable to enable it to be used extensively to advantage as a mailing-case, so that watches or watch-movements may be sent to the watch factory for repairs through the mails. The box is preferably made of telescopic form, the part a fitting into the part a, as shown.

17 represents a foot, which supports the watch-holder. Said foot is formed to be removably inserted in the part a of the box and to closely fit the walls thereof, so that when in the box it cannot be moved edgewise to The foot is also formed to be clamped between its seat or bearing on the part a and the margin of the part a when the latter is inserted in the part a, this clamping action preventing vertical movement of the foot, so that when the foot is in place in the part a and the part a is inserted the foot will be securely held against movementin any direction. I prefer to make the foot I) of a fiat piece of sheet metal formed to bear upon the bottom of the part a of the box, its edges fitting the walls of said part. I do not limit myself to this construction,

however, and may make the foot of wire or' any other suitable material. In Figs. 4 and 5 I show a foot b composed of a piece of wire bent to extend along two sides of the part a of the box, said wire being confined in place by its contact with the walls of the box and by the clamping action of the two parts of the box, as in the construction first described.

The foot is provided with an upwardly pro jecting resilient support, which yieldingly sustains a watch-holder. In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 said support is a helical spring 0 attached at its lower end to the foot I), and at its upper end to the watch-holder, which in said figures is shown as a sheet-metal box d,having upon its bottom a boss or projection d, into which the upper end of the spring 0 is screwed, said end having a screw-thread formed upon it and engaging a corresponding thread in the boss (1, so that the box I) may be readily applied to and removed from the support 0. The box (I is intended to hold a watch-movement without its case and may be of any suitable construction, it being here shown as composed of two external parts 2 3 and an internal part or box at, which directly supports the movement. The holder shown in Figs. at and 5 is of the same construction as that shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, but the resilient support shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is an inclined extension 0 of the wire foot I), said extension being screw-threaded at its upper end and removably engaged with the boss d on the holder (Z.

In Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 I show a holder 6 constructed to hold a watchcase, said holder being yieldingly sustained by a resilient support and a base or foot to which said support is attached. The holder 6 is composed of two general parts movable relatively to each other. One of said parts is here shown as a plate 5, having its edges rolled to form sockets 6 6 to receive pieces of wire which are extended from one end of the plate 5 and bent to form arms 7 7, adapted to embrace portions of the periphery of a watchcase. The other part is shown as a plate 8, having its edges rolled to form sockets 9 9 to receive wires, the project ing ends of which are bent to form arms 10 10, arranged to bear upon the periphery of the watchcase at points opposite the arms 7 7. The plates 5 and 8 are provided with longitudinal slots 12, which in the construction shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8 receive a screwthreaded stem 13, formed on a head 14, which lies between the sockets 9 9 of the plate 8, said stem projecting below the plate 5 and being there engaged with a nut 15, said nut cooperating with the head 14 in clamping and binding tightly together the plates 5 and 8, thus holding them in any position to which they may be adjusted. By loosening the nut 15 the plates are released and can be moved longitudinally to vary the distance between the arms 7 7 and 10 10, so that the holder can be adjusted to contain cases of various sizes.

In Fig. 9 I show a modification in which the screw-threaded stem 13 and head 14 are dispensed with, the upper end of the spring 0 constituting the resilient support, being provided with a shoulder c to support the plate 5 and a screw-threaded extension 0 which passes through the slots 12 in the plates 5 and S, and is engaged above said plates with a nut 0 Rotation of the plates 5 and 8 and the nut 0 upon the support 0 in one direction will unscrew the nut and loosen the plates, so that they may be adjusted, while rotation in the opposite direction will tighten the nut and hold the plates in their adjusted position.

It will be seen that in each case the watchholder is supported within the box out of contact with the walls thereof, and that it can be readily removed from the box with its resilient support and foot, the act of placing the foot in the box and connecting the parts of the box also securing the holder in place within the box.

IVhile I prefer the general construction above described, the same being the most convenient at present known to me, it is also evident that the construction might be modified by securing the resilient support directly to either the cover or the box itself, instead of to the removable foot or plate 1) without sacrificing the desired end of safety from concussion. Therefore I do not limit myself to the use of the removable foot.

I claim 1. A mailing-package for watches, comprising a two-part case or box, a removable foot or base formed to fit the interior of one part and to be confined therein by the other part, a holder formed to be contained in the box without contact therewith, and a resilient support connecting the holder and the foot and yieldingly sustaining the holder within the box, the holder being movable in any direction without striking the box.

2. As a means for supporting a watch in an inclosing box or case, a foot or base formed to fit the interior and to be clamped between the parts or members of said box, a resilient support on said foot, and a holder yieldingly sustained by said resilient support.

3. A watch supporting device comprising a foot or base, a resilient stem or shank thereon, a two-part holder yieldingly supported by said shank, the parts of said holder being movable relatively to each other to vary the capacity of the holder, and means for securing said parts in the different positions to which they may be adjusted.

4. A mailing or shipping package for watches, consisting of an outer box or case with a separable cover, a watch-holder having; means for positively grasping or holding a watch, said holder being of smaller size than the box, and a resilient support inter- IO posed between the holder and a part of the box, whereby the holder is yieldingly sus- 

